Men’s Ice Hockey, Rotiroti Stun Keene St. in OT

KEENE, N.H. – With 30 ticks of the clock remaining in overtime, Alfred Rotiroti fired in a wrist shot from the slot to lift the Rivier men's ice hockey team over Keene St., 6-5, in non-conference action on Friday night at Keene Ice.

The Raiders improved to 1-0-0 in the triumph while the Owls fell to 0-1-0 following their first NCAA men's ice hockey game in school history.

Riv struck first 5:29 into the opening frame as Rotiroti blocked a shot from the point and was off to the races with first-year forward Jared Salminen. Rotiroti elected to make a drop pass to Salminen rather than face the Owls' netminder Will Slohm, and Salminen made no mistake with the gift.

Keene St. responded with 1:20 left in the first on a Sean McBride tally, leveling the score at 1-1.

Rivier would regain the lead with less than 30 seconds left in the first as senior forward Cormac Hayes finished a cross-crease feed from classmate Jon Tavella, making it 2-1 Rivier at the first intermission.

The second period saw 15 total penalties and three goals aside to make it 5-4 Rivier after 40 minutes of play. Rivier's second period goal scorers were junior defenseman Carter Poulin (0:49, even strength), Tavella (13:09, powerplay), and senior forward Jake Laville (15:32, powerplay).

Sean Gray evened the score at 5-all 15:00 into the third period to force a five-minute, three-on-three overtime.

Despite being outshot in OT, 4-2, Rivier would earn the win as sophomore forward Damon Kiyawasew made a smart decision to forecheck behind the Owls' net, creating a turnover before dishing a feed to Rotiroti who potted the game-winner.

Senior captain Luke Newell made 23 saves in between the pipes for Riv in the victory as the Raiders outshot Keene St., 39-28.

Both teams went 25.0% on the powerplay as the Raiders went 2-for-8 while the Owls went 1-for-4.

Rivier will have some time off before heading to Saint Anselm for a showdown with the Hawks on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 6:00 p.m. at Sullivan Arena.